The Squad Car as Mobile Deputy’s Desk

The days of having to spend hours writing out crime reports at the station will soon end for the Sheriff’s Department.

The department is going digital. For the last six months, deputies in Moorpark have been testing several models of advanced mobile data computer terminals in patrol cars.

Like the old on-board computers, the new units allow a deputy to verify a driver’s license and license plates, and check for outstanding warrants.

The new cellular computer models also let a deputy type in crime reports in the field and send them electronically to the station, to the courthouse and district attorney’s office.

The new computers also have the capability to transmit calls-for-service directly to a patrol car. The calls will be accompanied by a detailed street map showing where the caller is in relation to a squad car’s location.

“This is going to make our officers much more efficient,” said Capt. Mike Lewis, who is overseeing the program.

Eventually, the computer network will include a 6-foot screen in the department’s dispatch center showing 911 operators where every patrol car is at any time.

And deputies will be able to communicate electronically with officers at other police agencies, which is impossible now.

For example, if a vehicle is stolen in Moorpark and the suspect is an Oxnard resident, a deputy could instantly message Oxnard police that a suspect may be headed their way.

Ventura police already have the new computers, and Oxnard and Simi Valley police have similar projects in the works.

More than $1 million will be spent on the project, Lewis said. The money is coming from a $4.2-million grant the department received from the state Department of Justice.

The new computers will be installed in each of the fleet’s 138 vehicles by year’s end, and field report writing will be up and running by autumn 2000, he said.

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Cases of people using pit bulls for dog fighting are on the rise, according to authorities.

In 1998, the Humane Society of Ventura County handled about a dozen reports of scarred, bloodied dogs being found at residences or abandoned on city streets.

In the first six months of this year, the society has already taken a dozen reports, said Jeff Hoffman, director of field operations for the county agency.

“We know there’s lots of it going on in this county,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman said the cases are difficult to prosecute because his office doesn’t have enough employees to do surveillance, which is necessary to catch the crime in progress.

Often, he said, criminal charges aren’t filed because witnesses--usually people wagering on a dog fight or neighbors who fear repercussions from dog owners--won’t come forward to testify.

“There are some people who just like blood sports--cock fighting or dog fighting--to see two animals tear each other up,” Connors said.

Former pit bull owner Gerardo Garcia, 21, of El Rio, was sentenced last week to four months in County Jail plus five years’ probation for his conviction on a felony charge of conducting a dogfight, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Connors.

On May 27, 1998, deputies broke up a dogfight in the backyard of Garcia’s home. Five grown pit bulls and four puppies were confiscated. One adult male pit bull was in such bad shape it had to be destroyed, Connors said.

Garcia maintained he was a dog breeder and that his pets were injured breaking their chains and running loose on his property, Connors said.

Garcia must report to jail July 12 to begin serving his time. Connors also plans to seek $19,000 in restitution from Garcia for the county’s cost of housing and caring for the pit bulls and having to kill one of them.

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A jewel thief is on the loose in Newbury Park.

Since August, more than a dozen burglaries have occurred at homes near Lynn Road and Meadow Avenue, Sheriff’s Det. Joe Devorick said.

The crimes are being committed by the same person, deputies believe, because all the break-ins are strikingly similar, Devorick said.

The burglaries have occurred between 5 and 8 p.m., and in each case the burglar used a pry tool to get inside a home through a back window or sliding glass door.

The burglar favors expensive jewelry and laptop computers. Most of the items have been taken from master bedrooms, the detective said.

The burglar is neat. He or she closes the drawers after rifling them, and always puts the empty jewelry boxes back where they were, Devorick said.

There is a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in this case. Call Devorick at 494-8224 with leads.